According to Bring Back Main Street, led by the Canadian Urban Institute:
- Almost 98 percent of businesses in Ontario are small businesses and are responsible for 64 percent of private-sector employment.
- Since the beginning of the pandemic close to half of Canadian independent businesses saw revenues drop by 70 percent and 30 percent of people employed by small businesses have been laid off.
- Money spent at small, local, and independent businesses circulates in the local economy far longer compared to spending at chains or larger corporations, generating more local activity and creating more employment.